There’s a little trend going on in the creative small business world that has to do with choosing a word.  Choosing a word that can identify your purpose and plan for the year.  I think the idea is that instead of having lists and lists of goals and things to work on, if you just have one word that can define all of it together, perhaps you can better remember and focus on it.

I thought and thought about this word, hence why I am a little late to the party! I feel like in some ways, I am really in a sink or swim place in my business. Or maybe more likely, sink or fly.  It feels a little like a turning point this year…how much am I going to hustle and dig in to really move forward, while balancing family time and looking toward the future and how things will change as our kids grow up? Now that the basic costs of getting up and running in this industry are taken care of, where am I going to focus my resources in the next year? Is this career something that can really sustain us long term? There are so many questions that need answering, and this year feels very important in determining them.  But behind all the questions is a constant nagging fear…can I make this work? Is there a place in this industry for me?  Is it what we want?  Can I create something new and beautiful for my clients? And the answer comes in my word of the year.

Enough.

Not a piece of this business has been something I initially planned or sought after.  This just wasn’t something I came up with…it was so clearly a God thing.  And that same God of mine tells me…You are enough. Your business is enough, your passion is enough. Your talent and heart and hustle is enough. You are doing enough at home, and you are doing enough as a mom and a wife, even while working.  I hear God working in my heart through this very deep issue that has always been a struggle for me.

And on the other side of the word…enough comparing.  Enough stressing.  Enough worrying.  Enough worrying that if you miss a day of your 4 blogging days a week, you are going to lose readers. Enough worrying that your reach isn’t far enough. Enough worrying that all this work will be for nothing, or that next year won’t book how this year has.

My favorite Bible verse, since I began seriously reading the Bible at age 18, has been Jeremiah 29:11.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”.

In college, I was practically obsessed with this promise, with discovering God’s purpose for my life.  10 years later, everything is so much clearer.  But there are still so many questions.  Now, I am praying that God remind me of His simple answer to all the questions, all the noise:

E N O U G H .